Jivox takes an approach to online advertising that’s similar to SpotRunner’s process of making television ads accessible and affordable, and has received $10.7 million in a Series A round of funding to show for it. Launched this spring with $2.7 million in seed funding, led by Opus Capital, the early-stage venture capital firm has returned to lead the Series A round, with new investor Helion Venture Partners also participating in the round, along with other existing investors. Not surprisingly, Jivox plans to use the funds for the development of its advertising platform, along with the expansion of its sales and marketing.
Targeted towards small and local businesses, Jivox is taking the template method of customizable advertisements to the online market just as online video ads continue to garner interest for their marketing capabilities. It’s a self-service approach to pre- and post-roll ads that extends an accessible advertising option far beyond large businesses that have hesitatingly adopted online video advertising over the past couple of years, as the majority of online video stems from user-generated content.
In order to grant access to a wide array of audiences and provide value to clients, Jivox has expanded its partnerships to include Brown Publishing, ExpoTV, AOL India, Sulekha.com and Reliance Entertainment’s Bigadda.com. According to Jivox, the addition of these new partners allows Jivox to reach 40 million viewers through its rapidly growing network.
So will the DIY approach to video advertising become the new standard across the board?
The self-service online video ad networks, by virtue of their processes, will likely become as effective as most other DIY ad networks. But one aspect of this industry I’m particularly interested in following is the outsourcing that occurs for these networks to grow their content offerings in an affordable manner. SpotRunner and TurnHere are two networks that are focusing on the outsourcing approach, and targeting small businesses as well.
Leveraging a large network of creatives, which can be managed efficiently with web-based communities, tends to be a major next step for such advertising networks, and it only makes sense. I’d like to see how such networks change the ability for creatives to better use such web-based networks for freelance work and carving out their own niche careers.
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